Opacity of the Heart
by paint my hair a blackendcrown
Summary: what happens to Kagome once the jewel is completed? what is the plan for the reincarnated miko? will she stand by her hanyo, or will the opacity of her heart get in the way... please read and review!


"How could something so beautiful cause so much pain?" The raven haired miko pondered whilst staring at the small jewel contained within its glass vile. "It's hurt everyone around me. Sango lost her brother, Miroku has his cursed wind tunnel, and Inu Yasha…" her thoughts trailed off at the sound of his name. She placed her head on her right arm she had draped across her knees. She was sitting on a boulder underneath the ebony sky filled with sparkling diamonds. "He's been so distant lately. It's as if he's wondering what to do now, now that we're so close to defeating Naraku so close to attaining what he's so long for desired. Will he go back and fulfill his first promise? Or will it be something else…" The faint sound of rustling grass caught her attention. "Really Inu Yasha, do you always have to sneak up on me?"

"Humph. I was just coming to tell you that dinner is ready, you don't have to bite my head off."

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

By this time he had lept onto the rock beside her, "You sure seem to be doing a lot of thinking lately… do you have another one of those test things?"

"Heh. No Inu Yasha, I don't have another test coming up, I was just thinking about what's going to happen next."

"Baka. That's easy, we're going to kill that bastard Naraku and complete the jewel, what's to know?"

"So much more than you know…" she trailed off her perfect mahogany orbs glassing over, filling with tears.

"W-Why are you crying Kagome! Has someone hurt you!"

She turned her head towards the hanyo smiling through her tears, "No Inu Yasha, no one has hurt me. I'm just a little homesick that's all…"she lied.

"Well why don't you just go down the well for a visit? Shit, I'll even take you." He offered.

Get it together girl, you have to address this sometime, so why don't you just stop being such a coward and do it now..  
"Well it's not really that Inu Yasha… I'm crying because I need to know something…" she felt her face beginning to heat and a blush came to her cheek.

"Well spit it out already, what do you want to know?"

"I don't really know how to ask, or where to begin…"

"Baka, you begin at the beginning of course, feh even I know that."

She took of the chain around her neck and placed the vile in his hand.

"What do you see?"

"A shard of the Shikon jewel?"

"No Inu Yasha… you just don't get it…"

"WELL WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? You asked me what I saw and I said a shard of the shikon jewel, what other answer would I give?" His patience dropped, he was desperate to know what was wrong with his miko, but all these guessing games were getting to him. He thrust the vile back into her hand. "Then why don't you tell me what you see if you know so much."

" I see… I see destruction , I see separation, I see unanswered prayers. I see my friends, my hopes and dreams. I see so many things when I look into this vile I don't know what to think anymore."

He raised an eyebrow quizzically at her, "You see all of that... in there?"

"Yes." her voice was horse choking back the tears.

"Kagome, it's only a stupid shard. What we really need is the whole jewel!" He tried to cheer her up.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of." She put her hand against her mouth and let the tears roll down silently.

Inu Yasha let a sigh out and slowly put an arm around his comrade.

"Why does that scare you?" he asked softly, fearing her answer.

"Because when the jewel is complete, what happens to me… to us?" She felt her face grow hotter than a thousand fires so she quickly covered up her statement, "Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kiara, our whole group I mean.." He understood fully what she ment, but sadly could give no perfect answer.

"Kagome, all I'm focused on right now is defeating Naraku and collecting the shards…"

"But Inu Yasha, we're so close to the end of our quest someone needs to decide the ending…"

He looked down at the slate colored rock below him and tried to come up with something, anything that would put her mind at ease.

"Kagome, when the quest is over we'll stick to the original plan." Little did he know that was the one thing that would set her off.

"So that's it then." She turned to look him in the eye.

"….Yeah…. We stick to the plan, end of story everyone gets what they want!" Thinking he had made the right choice he emphasized the greatness of his plan. Kagome turned to him calmly and put her hand to his cheek.

"If that's you're decision then…" She gingerly took off the prayer beads that kept him binded. "I release you from me, from this…" She placed the beads in his hand and stood to go.

"Kagome I don't understand? What's with you? Are you finally ready for dinner?"

"No Inu Yasha, I'm not ready for dinner, but I finally do understand." She balled her hands into fists and took off for the bone eaters well.

"Oi! KAGOME! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Inu Yasha screamed after her, but by then she was too far gone to hear his voice. Immediately he took off after her picking up on her scent in the wind.

"KAGOME!"

No. Don't let him stop you.

"WAIT UP KAGOME!"  
Don't let your emotions get the better of you.

"KA-GO-ME!"

Only a little further….

Don't stop til you reach home.

It's better this way.

BAM.

He grabbed her by the shoulders. "No! Please! Let me go!" she struggled against his brute strength.

"Kagome what the hell is wrong with you!" He looked into her eyes and saw the look of a desperate animal caught in a trap. "I'll let you go if you tell me what's bugging you so much."

"SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT!" She screamed at him forgetting she had already freed him from that bond. She struggled against him, her hands covering her ears not wanting to hear his pleas for her to stay. He flinched expecting to feel that familiar pull on his neck sending him straight into the earth. When it didn't come, he realized that she had indeed freed him and that something must be really wrong for her to do such a thing. He looked down on the girl sobbing on her knees trying to break free of his hold on her in so many more ways than he could understand. He released her and stepped back not knowing what to do at that point. She was breathless, in tears, and tired of struggling.

"I wasn't prepared for you." she whispered between sobs. She looked up at the half demon standing in front of her. His intense gaze softened. "I wasn't prepared for this." She gestured to the forest surrounding them. He knelt down beside his troubled friend, and his heart ached for her.

"Please Kagome, tell me what's wrong."

She knew her heart could take no more, she was lost without him. She threw her arms around the hanyo's neck.

"Inu Yasha, when that jewel is complete, I will no longer be allowed to exist in this time. I don't belong here, we both know this. I will have to stay in my era and I won't be able to come back down the well. Each time we get closer to completing the jewel the more my heart breaks." His eyes widened and he felt like he had be hit in the stomach with the wind scar. "Kagome…I-I.." he didn't know what he was trying to say. What could he say? He just realized that someone he cared so much about would be taken away from him when he completed the jewel.

"We could… uh.."

"You made a promise to someone 50 years before we met. I won't let you forget her. I also can't forget our friends they are all counting on us to repair the jewel so that they can get things back that they lost because of it. I have no right to interfere with anything."

"Kikyo…" the name rumbled in his throat. "Kagome, I don't know what you want me to do… I can't give up on her, but I don't want to lose you either…"

"That's why I'm making the choice for you." Kagome squeaked through clenched teeth. "I have to go now." She pushed herself off of the ground and lept into the well before Inu Yasha could even reach out to her.

"Shit."


End file.
